Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/355

 1 565. ] THE DARNLE Y MA KRIA GK. 335 self ; France would not help her and would not permit the interference of Spain ; so that she would bring her- self ' to a hard end/ Cockburn ' spoke his mind freely to her to the same effect ' and ' told her she was in great danger/ 1 Mary Stuart ' wept wondrous sore ; ' but, construing Elizabeth's unwillingness to declare war into an admis- sion of her own strength, she was deaf to advice as she had been to menace. She disbelieved de Mauvissiere and trusted soon to hear from Yaxlee that the Spanish fleet was on its way to the English Channel ; at least she would not lose the chance of revenge upon her brother : f she said she would hear of no peace till she had Murray's or Chatelherault's head.' 2 A few hundred men from Berwick would probably have ended her power of so gratifying herself ; yet on the other hand it might have been a spark to explode an insurrection in England ; and Elizabeth preferred to hold aloof with her arm half raised wishing yet fearing to strike and waiting for some act of direct hostility against herself. As far as the peace of her own country was concerned her policy was no d.oubt a prudent one ; but it was pursued at the expense of her honour^_i^jTiined for the time her party in Scotland ; and it was an occasion of fresh injury to the fugitives at Dumfries. As soon as Murray with his few dispirited friends had reached the Border, he despatched Sir Robert Mel- 1 Cockburn to Cecil, October 2 : MS. Rolls House. ~ Bedford to Cecil, October 5 ; Scotch MSS. Rolls House.